Curiosity
by Crazy-McWritesalot
Summary: When Helen realizes she hasn't seen Nikola for a whole day, she starts to worry...And she might be right to do so: Tesla is struggling against one of his old demons. OS taking place some time after season 4 (so beware of 'spoilers'). If you like the playful side of Magnus trying to cheer up Tesla, then this story's for you. Rated T for safety, but that's really cautious of me.


Small one shot that came to me while reading an article. How excited would Tesla be about Curiosity's mission, right? :D OS taking place in August 2012 (so some time after the finale :'.  
R&R, and... I hope you enjoy it, it's nothing much.

 **CURIOSITY (august 2012)**

"There you are... Are you hiding from me?"  
Helen had spent quite a long time looking for Nikola. He was usually in his new lab, or shadowing her, making sure she never missed him... Effectively driving her crazy. Naturally, when she hadn't heard from him since breakfast, she had grown concerned, and not finding him in the brand new wine cellar had made her fear the worst.  
There he was, on the roof, busy observing the sky beyond the dome through her telescope.  
"I took a day off." He said, not moving away from the eye of the telescope.  
"Ah." She answered, intrigued.  
Not hearing from him in a whole day usually meant trouble for her. It happened mostly when he was planning to take over the world (not that she had heard him mention that since their little adventure with Affina).

When he didn't explain himself, she decided to use his own technique:

"A day off from seducing me? Have you run out of pick-up lines already?"  
He didn't move, and she wondered if he had even heard her.

"Or is it that you can't resist my charms anymore?" She went on, well aware that this was out of line and dangerous. That was playing with him... He could have turned around and have her pined to the wall of the staircase in no time. To say the truth, she would have preferred that to his ominous silence... Had he been depressed, she would have seen him drinking all day. So he obviously wasn't. What then?

"It's landing today you know?" He asked, pensively.  
Ah... So that was what it was all about- Mars. Mars, his old demon. Helen felt her shoulders relax. She hadn't even noticed how tense she had been. Thank God, that was something she could deal with.

She stepped forward, out in the light of the moon, and when Nikola could smell the scent of her shampoo, he finally abandoned his stargazing to turn to her.  
"You brought wine." He observed. "You must have missed me."  
Helen shrugged. It was nice to be able to work without having to ignore his banter sometimes. But she had grown accustomed to the challenge.

She put the bottle and the glasses she had brought with her on the table next to him and sat on the edge of the roof, where she could feel the breeze rising from the waterfall in her back, facing him. She loved the view of the cave from here, it was peaceful, more than that she had enjoyed from the top of the Old City sanctuary.

"They might not find a recent trace of life on Mars, Nikola. It doesn't mean that what you heard didn't come from space." She said on the same tone she used with Henry.  
Nikola felt a tingling sensation run through him, as if she had touched him intimately. When JP Morgan had asked him to build a device able to transmit sound around the world using radio frequency, he had felt he could do far better. Of course, he always sought more than what was asked from him. He lived for the thrill of discovery. Helen loved that about him. In 1899, his experiments in Colorado had led him to hear sounds coming from outer space. For years, he had tried to establish contact with Mars, on which he had thought someone had sent the message he had heard. The scientific world had been divided, and he had lost credibility.  
Jupiter. Some now thought that what he had heard was some natural fluctuation from Jupiter... Nothing about intelligent forms in that. But Helen didn't talk about it. She knew him better than anyone. If he still thought that what he had heard was a message from aliens, there had to be some reason.  
Nikola sighed and poured them both wine.

"Are you merely trying to comfort me, or do you seriously believe I talked to little green men?" He asked, pining her with a gaze which was full of hope.  
She smiled her best smile, and he felt lighter.  
"You're asking the woman who declared monsters are real on a popular News TV channel. Who am I to contradict you?"

She caught his smug smile as his fingers were brushing against hers, giving her a glass of wine.  
"At least I didn't make it to Youtube." Nikola teased.  
Oh how he loved to watch this video again and again... For the sake of seeing his friend's sweet serious face. What he loved less was that everyone thought she was a crazy woman. He was the mad scientist, she was the lunatic. Never mind what they thought, they were not so different. They both put science before popularity.  
Helen choked on her wine. She had acted to gain them more time, she had never thought about that particular aspect of her intervention... If looks could kill, Nikola would have burned right on the spot.  
"They won't find anything on Mars, right?" He asked her, suddenly brought back to his main preoccupation.  
Helen bit her lip. It would take forever to find another inhabited planet, if ever they found one... They both had the forever ahead, but what about Earth?  
When Nikola saw her trying to get to her feet, he took her hand to help her, afraid she would fall to her death, tripping over the small wall. She abandoned her glass to focus only on her old friend.  
"It's unlikely." She confirmed before leaning on his shoulder, her hand still in his. "But in time, you'll be proved right. I have faith in you."

Their gaze met, and they stayed like this a long moment. Nikola's mind was racing. The woman he cared for was there with him, and all he could think about was Mars... He had to be a mad scientist, right? He stared at the sky above them. He sighed. Her last sentence was wishful thinking, and she didn't do wishful thinking, so she was probably a bit of a lunatic too.  
"Sometimes, I doubt myself." He confessed.  
With that, Helen was against him, circling his waist, her face in his neck, trying to become a part of him, to show him how much she trusted him. His glass ended up next to hers on the table, and he embraced her, burying his nose in her curls. How many times had he put her in danger? Wasn't it the proof he couldn't trust himself? If he ran around hurting that sweet woman, his only friend, his family, whom he yet claimed he loved, how could he be convinced about the message from Mars after all?  
"I know better than to doubt you Nikola. I almost lost my life once because I didn't listen to you."  
The Titanic... Yes, that was right. He had predicted the disaster, but JP Morgan had not listened... And he had died. When Tesla had heard that Helen Magnus was on the ship, he had panicked. She had joked, ' _I'm crossing the Atlantic to come and see you, and all you find to keep me away is saying the safest ship on Earth is going to sink... Don't you want to see me?_ ' she had written.  
Of course he did. He couldn't find any time where he had been happier to see her, on an hospital bed in New York, cold and pale. He had spent days never leaving her side, gripping her hand. She had survived, it mattered more to him than being right.

He hold her tight, feeling her breast pressed against his torso.  
"You're here." He stated. "That's a miracle. And it must mean something..." He finished, deep in thoughts.  
The universe was sending him a message, again.  
"It probably means you should worry less about this whole mission on Mars and worry more about here and now." Helen whispered against his neck, her breath warm against his cold skin.  
He smiled. His genius needed her to stay grounded.

"Thank you, Helen." He sighed, losing a hand in her smooth hair. He wanted this embrace to last forever. It was all perfect.  
She kissed his jaw, and her lips ended dangerously close to his ear, sending a shiver down his spine.  
"Now go, Henry needs help in the lab." She said, trying hard not to laugh when she drew back to look in his eyes. It was a petty move, but he needed to be distracted from that whole mission on Mars.


End file.
